Throttled (Wild Riders #1)(70)
“How could I?”
“I don’t know.” She shrugged. “Guess we’ll find out tomorrow.”
I was confused by what she meant. I was leaving tomorrow and the last thing I was going to be was sick of her. Sick of missing her, sure. I sat up and watched as she pulled my shirt back over her head.
“What’s going on in that head of yours?” I asked.
“I’ve just heard that couples that are together all the time tend to get on each other’s nerves.” She grinned as she walked over to her closet and rolled out her suitcase. Judging by the weight of it, it was packed.
“Don’t tease me.”
“I’m not,” she promised. “I decided today that if you’re leaving, I’m leaving.” She stood proudly beside her bag and smiled. “Brett can keep an eye on Georgia. The real estate office will survive without me. My life is with you. Besides, I can’t very well make a living on taking pictures if I never go anywhere, now can I?”
“Seriously?”
“Seriously. I don’t want to be apart anymore. I don’t want to spend the next few weeks just talking on the phone and texting. I want to be with you.”
I didn’t say anything as I jumped off the bed and pulled her into my arms. I didn’t need to. She’d just made me the happiest man in the entire universe. I picked her up and spun her around, her tinkling laughter filling the air.
Not only did she love me, but she was coming on the road with me. I kissed her until my lips were numb.
That afternoon when Reid dropped me off at my house, I’d had a moment of clarity. I didn’t want him to leave the next day and the only thing I could do to make it better was to go with him. My life in Halstead wasn’t going anywhere and I could afford to take a few weeks off work. Getting to be with him and seeing what his job was like day to day was worth it. He’d been making a lot of promises about our future and I wanted him to know that I was as committed to him as he was to me.
Seeing my name in black ink on his body solidified what I was feeling. On the left side and right below his heart to boot. It was the sexiest tattoo I’d ever seen, and made me want to shout the surprise I had for him on the spot. But I didn’t. We made love like it was the last time we were going to see each other and it made me taking out my suitcase and telling him I was going with him that much sweeter.
“I can’t wait to experience this with you,” I told him when we stopped kissing. We continued our night as planned, but instead of him getting up the next morning to tell me goodbye, we loaded up his truck with my luggage next to his and set out for Texas. Together.
The press conference and photo ops that he had to do for work were just as much fun as I’d thought they’d be. Exhausting yes, but seeing Reid in the spotlight was amazing. He’d earned his success and the way he humbly carried himself when he met fans and the press made me love him that much more.
I’d made good on my time, taking my camera with me and snapping pictures of him at work whenever I got the chance. He showed me what his life had been like over the past few years, including a tour of his practice track and the apartment he’d called home. The place we’d call home together when we came back here for his training that winter.
By the time the press tour had wrapped up and we were headed back to Halstead, both of us were eager to get the ball rolling on our new house and setting up the businesses that Reid had decided he wanted to own. On top of that, he was flying his parents in for their surprise. It had been so hard to keep the secret of their new house when we visited them in Texas.
When we picked them up at the airport and drove them out to the place they once called home, the smile on Reid’s face was priceless, only matched by their tears of joy and gratitude when we pulled up in front of the newly built house.
“They loved it,” I’d told him when we left them for their first night in their new home. Thanks to internet shopping and Georgia and Brett’s help, we’d had the entire thing furnished and decorated by the time we’d arrived back in Halstead.
“They did, didn’t they?” He smiled. If the whirlwind of the last few weeks were any indication of what my life was going to be like, I was going to be a happy girl. That night when we crawled into bed together back at my house in our hometown, I knew that choosing to be with him was the best decision I’d ever made.
Reid’s plans to open an official racetrack in Halstead were underway, along with his plans to open a shop in conjunction with the track. Vendors were already canceling their deals with Gregurich Motor Sports to go into business with Reid. Ricochet Racing would be opening soon and who better to be in business with than a professional rider.
Word on the street was that Beau was changing careers. Reid and his team might not have been able to formally charge him for tampering with the bike, but they’d made damn sure to put him on a blacklist with anyone involved with racing in any aspect. I’m sure the countless phone calls that Brett had been making while he was stuck indoors recovering had a lot to do with it. His vendetta was even more justified than Reid’s. Beau Gregurich had pissed off the wrong people this time. I had a feeling that our conflict with Beau was far from over, but at least in that moment I was content with knowing that he was on his way out.
“As excited as I am to have a front row seat to seeing his business crash and burn, I’m more excited to get this f*cking knee back in shape so I can give him the beating he fully deserves,” Brett had told us. He still had a few weeks left in the cast so for the time being Reid wasn’t too concerned with him doing something he might regret. One thing was for sure, I didn’t want to be around if and when Brett Sallinger ever got a hold of Beau.